May 5, 2003
There has been virtually no political leadership since SARS first arrived in Canada during the middle of March. First of all, there is the federal government. While the virus was spreading, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien was sunning himself in the Dominican Republic, playing golf with Bill Clinton, and lunching with the former prez and his wife, an amazing feat since most Americans wouldn’t be caught dead in the same room with him. The PM’s reason for not returning to Canada--he was available on the phone and he was entitled to a holiday. Health Minister Anne McLellan downplayed the effects of SARS, probably her way of saying that Da Boss isn’t particularly interested. She stated that she was in close contact with the World Health Organization, but didn’t know their travel advisory was coming.
We all know that Chrétien doesn’t do crises. He paid no attention to the 1995 Quebec referendum that saw the voters reject separation by a very slim margin. And apart from sending his condolences to President Bush, he couldn’t have cared less about the events of September 11 and the Canadians who died in the twin towers. The PM did emerge a year later to blame the terrorist attack on Western (read U.S.) greed and arrogance. Nope, unless something affects the littlest guy from Shawinigan personally, major events don’t register with our boy Jean.
On the provincial level, Ontario Premier Ernie Eves stayed where a lot of real conservatives wish he had stayed all along--in the background. Other than the mandatory photo-op at a Chinese restaurant, Ernie avoided SARS like the plague. On the four day Easter weekend, described by medical officials as the make-it-or-break-it time for SARS, Ernie went to Arizona to golf--and presumably primp his hair for the upcoming election. His reasons for not speaking--it was a medical problem, he’s not a doctor, and he was entitled to a holiday.
The Canadian outbreak has been mainly limited to the Greater Toronto area, so you would think that the Toronto City Council would have taken some interest in it. During the week of April 14, council sat for three days discussing such life and death issues as raising taxi fares and banning designated smoking rooms in restaurants. The city mothers apparently just couldn’t find the time to discuss SARS, but they did agree to hold an emergency meeting the following Thursday. The meeting rolled around the day after the World Health Organization issued its advisory against going to Toronto. The meeting was just a tad late.
Last, but not least, was Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman. He ranted and raved, which did some good for a change because it got him in the major world media. Okay, so he went on CNN and didn’t know how many people in Toronto had SARS, and literally didn’t know who’s WHO, but he made an impact. Showing anger was good, and the world doesn’t know he gets just as angry when Toronto has a major snowstorm. Although Lastman is ill with Hepatitis C, it didn’t slow down his ranting, and he would have certainly been able to designate someone to handle SARS, had he deemed it serious. However, his illness may have prevented him from playing golf.
Let’s forget about the federal government, because Jean Chrétien’s inaction was predictable, and let’s move on to Ernie Eves. Eves failed. He took no action even though the severe repercussions of the spread of SARS to the economy of Ontario and Toronto were apparent. He, along with Toronto City Council, should have taken steps to reign in their Medical Officers of Health. They should never have been allowed to hold a press conference on a Tuesday afternoon just because it was Tuesday afternoon, and the effect of these never ending press conferences probably did more harm than good. The more coverage it got, the worse the economic situation got. And, since the vast majority of the SARS virus was spread in medical facilities, it is unlikely that the media coverage did much to stop the spread. Real leaders are called on to make decisions about matters in which they personally have no expertise. This "golly, I’m not a doctor so I didn’t do or say anything" does nothing more than to show the leadership void in this province. Dalton’s starting to look pretty good right now.
As for Toronto City Council, their lack of action is not surprising. More concerned for their own pet causes than they are for what is important, it is understandable that they would rather discuss raising fares of taxis that no one is using and banning designated smoking rooms in restaurants that no one is going to. If a problem exists that can’t be fixed by raising taxes or banning something, its solution is over the head of the council.
It took the WHO travel advisory to wake the politicians up. Unfortunately, for the economy of Canada’s major city, it may be too little too late.